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C'est la Z

SIGCSE 2018

I just got back from SIGCSE2018 - the big annual conference on computer science education. Although I've been in this racket for decades, this was only my second SIGCSE and once again I had a blast.

As with most conferences, a highlight was the "hallway track" where I got to spend time with friends and colleagues from all over the country. I also got to check off a few names from the "people I've been following online and want to meet in person" list. There are a few more on the list but it's getting smaller.

The theme was CS For All but the range of topics covered was both wide and deep.

For me, I left thinking about a few themes:

  • College faculty can learn a lot from K12 teachers in terms of

pedagogy and teaching.

  • So can "thought leaders," policy makers, and big companies.
  • Colleges face a huge challenge in both developing pedagogues and

transfering pedagogical knowledge over to researchers.

  • Can you do both CS4All and have quality CS teachers in the short

term (I doubt it)?

  • Researchers vs Practitioners and the value of listening to one or

the other.

  • Nifty assignments are frequently regular assignments reskinned with

graphics.

There were a few sessions that dissapointed me but most of the ones I attende were terrific. I thought I'd blog about some of them in detail over the next few weeks.

Here are the sessions I'm planning on writing about:

Railing

Algebra]], presented by Kathi Fisher

by Benjamin Xie

presented by John MacCormick

Construction]], by McCartin-Lim, Woolf, and Mcregor

  • Google Supporter Session on Incorporating Machine Learning into

University Courses.

I might talk about a few other sessions as well.

Overall it was a great conference. I look forward to sharing my experiences with all of you in the coming posts.

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